Marjo Wallin Community-dwelling older people in inpatient rehabilitation

2009 Studies in social security and health 103 Marjo Wallin Community-dwelling older people in inpatient rehabilitation Physiotherapists and clients accounts of treatments, and observed interaction during group sessions

Studies in social security and health 103 Kela, Research Department Helsinki 2009 Marjo Wallin Community-dwelling older people in inpatient rehabilitation Physiotherapists and clients accounts of treatments, and observed interaction during group sessions Tiivistelmä Kotona asuvat vanhukset laitoskuntoutuksessa Fysioterapeuttien ja asiakkaiden kuntoutuskertomukset ja vuorovaikutus ryhmätilanteiden aikana

Author Marjo Wallin, MSc Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä marjo.wallin@sport.jyu.fi The publications in this series have undergone a formal referee process. Marjo Wallin and Kela, Research Department Layout: Pekka Loiri ISBN 978-951-669-795-9 (print) ISBN 978-951-669-796-6 (pdf) ISSN 1238-5050 Printed by Vammalan Kirjapaino Oy Sastamala 2009

Abstract Wallin M. Community-dwelling older people in inpatient rehabilitation. Physiotherapists and clients accounts of treatments, and observed interaction during group sessions. Helsinki: The Social Insurance Institution, Finland, Studies in social security and health 103, 2009. 148 p. ISBN 978-951-669-795-9 (print), 978-951-669-796-6 (pdf). The aim of this study was to examine the situated praxis of group-based physiotherapy in geriatric inpatient rehabilitation aimed at frail community-dwelling older adults. The data were collected from the AGE study during 2002 and 2003, and comprised 31 interviews with older adults aged 66 93 years and 11 physiotherapists. In addition seven group exercise sessions comprising 52 older adults and 9 professionals were videotaped. Transcribed texts from interviews and videotaped sessions were analysed qualitatively. The older adults described their rehabilitation experience as giving them a sense of confidence in their everyday living, as a sense of being in a vacation or as a sense of disappointment. The physiotherapists described the older adults either as recipients of rehabilitation intervention focusing on their physical functional ability or social needs, or as partners in an exercise intervention to enhance their ability to cope at home. The group exercise sessions were carried out according to the agenda of the physiotherapists either in a structured manner without individualised modifications or allowing individual adjustments and feedback. Circuit training allowed greater opportunities for older adults to participate actively in the session consisting of taciturn exercising, submissive disagreeing, resilient endeavouring and lay helping. The heterogeneity of the group posed a challenge to the mundane praxis of rehabilitation, illuminating its strengths and suggesting areas for further development. Allowing and enabling team efforts by older adults during exercise sessions provide meaningful social interaction and togetherness. Older adults initiations and independent actions together with joint problem solving are important skills when considering the challenges of independent living in the community. Knowingly practising the link between activities during physiotherapy and everyday living through daily tasks enhances the opportunities for the adoption of these new skills. Keywords: living at home, elderly, rehabilitation, exercise therapy, functional ability, rehabilitation clients, interaction

Tiivistelmä Wallin M. Kotona asuvat vanhukset laitoskuntoutuksessa. Fysioterapeuttien ja asiakkaiden kuntoutuskertomukset ja vuorovaikutus ryhmätilanteiden aikana. Helsinki: Kela, Sosiaali- ja terveysturvan tutkimuksia 103, 2009. 148 s. ISBN 978-951-669-795-9 (nid.), 978-951-669-796-6 (pdf). Tutkimuksen tarkoitus oli selvittää kotona asuvien vanhusten laitoskuntoutuksen liikunnallisen osuuden toteutumista fysioterapeuttien ja vanhusten näkökulmasta. Tutkimuksen aineisto kerättiin vuosina 2002 ja 2003 Kelan IKÄ-hankkeen kuntoutusryhmistä. Tutkimukseen haastateltiin 31 iältään 66 93-vuotiasta kuntoutujaa ja 11 fysioterapeuttia. Lisäksi videoitiin seitsemän ryhmäliikuntatilannetta, joihin osallistui yhteensä 52 vanhusta ja 9 ammattilaista. Vanhukset kuvailivat kuntoutuskokemustaan joko arjessa selviytymisen välineeksi tai lomaksi arjesta. Osa oli pettynyt saamaansa kuntoutukseen. Fysioterapeutit pitivät vanhuksia joko kuntoutuksen vastaanottajina, jolloin keskityttiin vanhuksen fyysisen toimintakyvyn ongelmiin tai sosiaalisiin tarpeisiin, tai kumppaneina harjoitteluinterventiossa kotona selviytymisen edistämiseksi. Ryhmäliikuntatilanteet etenivät fysioterapeuttijohtoisesti, joko strukturoidusti ilman kuntoutujille annettua yksilöllistä palautetta tai yksilöllisen ohjauksen ja palautteen mahdollistaen. Ns. kiertoharjoittelussa vanhuksilla oli mahdollisuus osallistua aktiivisesti liikuntaryhmän toteuttamiseen. Vanhukset osallistuivat hiljaisesti harjoittelemalla, vastentahtoisesti suostumalla, sitkeästi yrittämällä tai kaveria auttamalla. Heterogeeninen vanhusryhmä haastaa nykyisiä kuntoutuskäytäntöjä, joissa on sekä toimivia että kehitettäviä alueita. Vanhusten kotona asumista heidän yksilölliset tarpeensa huomioon ottaen voidaan tukea, kun vanhukset saavat osallistua muiden ryhmäläisten kanssa yhteiseen ongelmanratkaisuun ja heille mielekkäiden, arjen askareita tukevien harjoitusten tekemiseen. Yhteenveto s. 52 56. Avainsanat: kotona asuminen, vanhukset, kuntoutus, liikuntahoito, toimintakyky, kuntoutujat, vuorovaikutus

Sammandrag Wallin M. Äldre människor i kommunalt serviceboende som deltar i rehabilitering. Fysioterapeutens och klienternas redogörelse för rehabiliteringen och interaktionen under gruppövningarna. Helsingfors: FPA, Social trygghet och hälsa: Undersökningar 103, 2009. 148 s. ISBN 978-951-669-795-9 (hft.), 978-951-669-796-6 (pdf). Syftet med denna forskning är att kartlägga hur fysioterapin genomförs på rehabiliteringskurser för äldre människor i kommunalt boende, både ur fysioterapeutens och klientens synvinkel. Undersökningsmaterialet samlades in åren 2002 2003 i ÅLDER-projektets rehabiliteringsgrupper. I studien intervjuades 31 klienter mellan 66 och 93 år och 11 fysioterapeuter. Dessutom videofilmades sju gruppövningar med 52 äldre människor och 9 instruktörer. Intervjutexterna och videoupptagningarna analyserades med kvalitativ forskningsmetodik. De äldre beskrev rehabiliteringsupplevelsen så som att man med större säkerhet kunde klara vardagen eller att det var som att vara på semester. En del av deltagarna i grupperna var dock besvikna på rehabiliteringen. Fysioterapeuterna beskrev de äldre som mottagare av rehabilitering och fokuserade på fysisk funktionsförmåga eller socialt behov. En annan tolkning var att man deltog som träningspartners i de övningar som syftade till att underlätta ett självständigare liv hemma. Gruppövningarna genomfördes under ledning av en fysioterapeut, antingen i strukturerad form utan individuell anpassning eller med individuell handledning och feedback. Cirkelträning tillät i större utsträckning de äldre att aktivt delta och inverka på genomförandet av gruppträningen. Deltagarna utförde övningarna under tystnad, stundtals under protest, men kämpade ändå ihärdigt och hjälpte vid behov även kamraterna. Att rehabilitera heterogena grupper av äldre människor är en utmaning för rehabiliteringspraxisen, inom vilken det finns både fungerande områden och sådana som behöver utvecklas. Det är möjligt att göra det lättare för äldre människor att bo hemma och att samtidigt ta hänsyn till deras individuella behov genom att låta dem aktivt få delta i problemlösning och i gruppträning som syftar till att underlätta vardagen. Nyckelord: hemmaboende, äldre, rörelseterapi, funktionsförmåga, rehabiliteringspatienter, växelverkan

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is part of the AGE study, initiated by the Research Department of the Social Insurance Institution (SII) of Finland in collaboration with the University of Helsinki, the University of Jyväskylä, the University of Turku, and practically carried out by 41 municipalities, 7 rehabilitation facilities and staff from the local SII offices. I have had the pleasure of working in this project since the year 2002 when it was launched. I have been fortunate in being able to do my academic dissertation and learn how to carry out research within the larger study. Working in a multidisciplinary research group has been very educational and rewarding. I feel privileged to have been a member of this group. I would like to express my gratitude to the staff of the rehabilitation facilities and the older adults who participated in this study. I was allowed to spend several days observing the physiotherapy intervention put in practice in each of the rehabilitation facility. The hectic schedules were adjusted and private rooms supplied to accommodate several hours of interviewing the participants and the staff. While visiting older adults in their homes for re-interviews I was warmly welcomed and hosted. Those days were unforgettable for me. I want to express my appreciation to my two supervisors, Ulla Talvitie and Mima Cattan for their dedication and skilful guidance throughout this study. I am grateful to Ulla, who has patiently and tenaciously guided me in the process of learning the skillful graft of qualitative inquiry and scientific writing. Her role in helping me with plan my research and editing articles has been major. I am grateful to Mima for her supportive and encouraging attitude and constructive comments to my queries. Her international knowledge in the fields of gerontology and health promotion has been essential for my work. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the official reviewers of this thesis, Professor Claire Ballinger and Professor Gail Mountain. I am also grateful to Professor Marja Vaarama for agreeing to be my opponent. I warmly thank Katariina Hinkka for being the supportive and encouraging project leader of the AGE study. I am also grateful to Timo Klaukka for supporting me in this study. I am especially grateful to Sirkka-Liisa Karppi, for her endless encouragement and practical help in even the smallest issues. Her open-minded

scientific interest and substantial assistance in the practicalities of the process made this study possible. I would like to thank Professor Ari Heinonen for his support in the administrative issues in the final stage of my theses. I would also like to thank Professor Harri Suominen for supporting me in this study and making facilities available for me. I am also grateful to Professor Jyrki Jyrkämä for inspiring collaboration. Special thanks go to Reijo Pirttimäki for the skillful and patient technical support and appropriate supply of audiovisual devices. I would also like to thank Marja Petman for the administrative support and practical help in my recent efforts to manage the doctoral studies from a distance. David Kivinen, Michael Freeman, Jacqueline Välimäki and Lea Heinonen-Eerola are greatly acknowledged for revising the English language of the original articles and the theses. I would like to thank all my colleagues and fellow doctoral students at the Research Department of the Social Insurance Institution in Turku for encouraging collaboration. In particular, I would like to thank my friend and colleague Kirsi Ollonqvist. Thank you, Kirsi for your help and support during these years. I would also like to thank all my colleagues and fellow doctoral students at the Department of Health Sciences for providing supporting working environment. Especially I want to thank my friends Satu Pajala, Kristiina Tiainen, Tuulikki Sjögren and Anne Viljanen for your help and support. I would also thank Outi Jolanki at the University of Tampere for the encouragement and inspiration I have drawn from our conversations. Finally, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my family. Matti, Erik and Beata, without your understanding and support this project would not have come to completion. Thank you for keeping me emerged in mundane family life and for being my joy! I want to thank my Mom Eila for your encouragement and unwavering support and my Dad Timo for teaching me not to shun challenges. This work has been financially supported by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland. I wish to express my gratitude for the support. Espoo, September 2008 Marjo Wallin

CONTENTS LIST OF ORIGINAL PUBLICATIONS... 9 1 INTRODUCTION... 11 2 INTERACTION BETWEEN PATIENTS AND PROFESSIONALS IN THE INSTITUTIONAL SETTING...13 2.1 Older people in geriatric health care contexts...14 2.2 Patient encounters in physiotherapy...17 3 AIMS OF THE STUDY... 23 4 METHODS... 24 4.1 Theoretical frame of reference...24 4.2 Setting and participants...25 4.3 Data collection...28 4.4 Data analysis...29 4.5 Quality issues...32 5 FINDINGS... 34 5.1 Older people s voices (Study I)...34 5.2 Physiotherapists accounts (Study II)...36 5.3 Constructing group exercise sessions (Study III)...37 5.4 Clients contributions to the interaction during group sessions (Study IV)...39 6 DISCUSSION... 43 6.1 The older adults and the physiotherapists accounts of the inpatient rehabilitation...43 6.2 Observed interaction between the older adults and physiotherapists during the group sessions...45 6.3 Methodological considerations...48 6.4 Future directions...49 7 MAIN FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS...51 YHTEENVETO... 52 REFERENCES... 57 APPENDICES... 67 ORIGINAL PUBLICATIONS... 79

9 LIST OF ORIGINAL PUBLICATIONS The thesis is based on the following papers, which will be referred to by their Roman numerals. I II III IV Wallin M; Talvitie U; Cattan M; Karppi S-L. The meanings older people give to their rehabilitation experience. Ageing & Society 2007; 27: 147 164. Wallin M; Talvitie U; Cattan M; Karppi S-L. Physiotherapists accounts of their clients in geriatric inpatient rehabilitation. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences 2008; 22: 543 550. Wallin M; Talvitie U; Cattan M; Karppi S-L. Construction of group exercise sessions in geriatric inpatient rehabilitation. Health Communication 2008; 23: 245 252. Wallin M; Talvitie U; Cattan M; Karppi S-L. Interaction between clients and physiotherapists in group exercise classes in geriatric rehabilitation. Advances in Physiotherapy 2008 (DOI: 10.1080/14038190802538948). Original publication I has been reproduced with the permission of Cambridge University Press, publication II with the permission of Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Limited, and publication III with the permission of Taylor & Francis. Preprint version of the accepted paper IV has been reproduced with the permission of Informa Healthcare. Original publications are available in the print version only.

11 1 INTRODUCTION Population ageing presents an extensive challenge world-wide. In Finland the change in the age structure is expected to take place more rapidly than in most other European countries (Nieminen and Koskinen 2006). The national strategies in old-age policy in Finland emphasise the importance of independent living at home (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2001 and 2008). Taking into account the high prevalence of long-term illnesses and impaired functional ability (Teperi and Vuorenkoski 2006), preventative and rehabilitative measures have been stressed to secure functional independence in old age (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2008). Geriatric rehabilitation of older adults to enhance their ability to remain community-dwelling has been defined as an important future task of health care in Finland (Finnish Government 2002; Heikkinen 2006; Teperi 2006). In order to develop and assess the effectiveness of an inpatient rehabilitation model to support the community living of frail older people at high risk of institutionalisation, in 2002, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland initiated the AGE Study (Hinkka et al. 2006; Ollonqvist et al. 2007). While the randomized controlled trial was implemented to investigate the efficacy of the intervention, there was also a parallel need to gain a comprehensive understanding about the content of rehabilitation intervention. Several sub-studies were initiated, including the present study, which focused on physiotherapy. Geriatric physiotherapy aims to increase patients independence and quality of life by restoring and maintaining an optimal level of physical function despite the disabling effects of diseases and injuries (Felsenthal et al. 2000; Jonsson et al. 2003). In order for patients to undertake an often long and arduous rehabilitation process, it is important at the outset to take patients concerns into account so as to make the aims of rehabilitation meaningful, jointly negotiated and realistic (Sluijs et al. 1993; Young 1996; Reynolds 2005). This is also in accordance with the National framework for high-quality services for older people, which emphasises ensuring dignity in old-age services by securing the right to self-determination and participation, and providing individualised and resource-oriented care (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2008). Patients perceptions of the patient centredness of the health care encounter, that is, establishing a shared agenda, including mutually agreed goals, has been found to be directly associated with improved health status and increased efficiency of care (Stewart 1995), as well as increased adherence to treatments (McDonald et al. 2002). Thus, an important element of the physiotherapy process is the active involvement and commitment of patients to rehabilitation (Young 1996; Kivekäs 2006). Despite this widely accepted premise, there is relatively little knowledge about how it is put into practice in physiotherapy. To date, communication practices in physiotherapy, especially interaction during actual encounters, have received relatively little research attention (Reynolds 2005). In addition, little is known about communication during group sessions, as the existing studies have mainly focused on individual treatment encounters (Thornquist 1997; Martin 2004; Parry 2005; Talvitie and Pyöriä 2006). The present study explored the situated practice of group-based physiotherapy. The

12 specific objectives were to approach this issue through interview accounts with older adults and physiotherapists, and by investigating interaction during actual group exercise sessions.

13 2 INTERACTION BETWEEN PATIENTS AND PROFESSIONALS IN THE INSTITUTIONAL SETTING It has been argued that, due to participants orientation to the institutional context of the interaction, encounters between professionals and lay people evolve differently from mundane interaction between peers. Several features of interaction have been proposed as typical in institutional settings (Drew and Heritage 1992). First, institutional interaction is goal-oriented to some core goal conventionally associated with the institution. This goal-orientation may, however vary widely in different institutional settings. The participants may have a joint understanding of the main goal of the interaction from the outset or this goal starts out vague and is negotiated in the course of the encounter. In addition, the conduct of professionals is influenced by institutional and professional constraints and responsibilities, which may be unknown to the lay participants. Second, institutional interaction frequently involves constrains on allowable contributions to the evolving encounter. These constraints work in variety of ways, from limiting the actions to the task at hand to restricting the conversational contributions of some participants. Third, institutional interaction involves special assumptions and reasoning, which help the participants to interpret each others conduct. Early work on medical interaction revealed asymmetrical relationships between patient and doctor, owing to restricted information delivery to patients (Byrne and Long 1989). Further work on medical consultations suggested that clinical encounters are not always asymmetrical (ten Have 1991), but contextual problems, such as patients non-compliance, can trigger an asymmetrical interactional response (Barton 2000). Moreover, a trajectory of practitioner approaches has been identified in clinical encounters between patients and health care professionals. Heritage and Sefi (1992) found in their study that a substantial majority of nurses advice delivery cases were unilateral without any indication being given of need of advice. Furthermore, advice was not individualised to fit clients specific situation or level of prior knowledge. Collins et al. (2005) examined decision-making in medical consultations and noted that more bilateral and more unilateral approaches can be identified across different clinical settings. The more bilateral approach featured mutual negotiations comprising elaborations on patients perspectives, the comprehensive sharing of information about tests and treatment options and granting patients opportunities for making choices. In the more unilateral approach, decision-making was conducted autonomously by the practitioner without providing an opportunity for the patient to participate in it. Poskiparta et al. (2001) examined counseling sessions between nurses and patients and identified nurse-centered and empowermental health counseling sessions. Nursecentered counseling sessions proceeded according to the professional s agenda, and the advice was delivered irrespective of the patients needs. In the empowermental counseling sessions nurses emphasised patients rights to speak up, utilised patients perspectives in information delivery, and supported patients reflection skills.

14 While the examination of professionals communication practices is a fundamental task, the other party to the dyad in this interaction is the patient. Thus, it is essential to explore the patients role in institutional interaction and how patients participate during clinical encounters. Patients are found to regularly withhold responses to doctors diagnostic statements (Heath 1992; Peräkylä 2002) and to advice given by nurses or counsellors (Kettunen et al. 2000; Silverman 2001). Various reasons have been suggested for patients silence and adaptation to the agenda of health care professionals, such as trusting the expertise of professionals and leaving decisions to them, displaying compliance and attentive listening, feelings of incompetence and guilt about health issues, and performing in institutionally correct, non-problematic ways (Kettunen et al. 2001b). The infrequent cases of patients extended responses were related to both incongruency between doctors views of the condition and patients expectations during medical encounters (Heath 1992), and doctors elaboration of the evidence for diagnostic conclusions in uncertain or conflicting diagnoses (Peräkylä 2002 and 2006). Whilst patients extended responses after doctors delivery of diagnoses (Heath 1992; Peräkylä 2006) are treated as problematic, patients are expected to participate in recommendations for treatment (Stivers 2006). Recommendations for treatment are typically accepted by patients and if no confirmation is provided, doctors solicit the patient s agreement (Stivers 2005). Thus, withholding acceptance or resisting recommendations has been found to influence physicians recommendations for treatment (Stivers 2002 and 2005). These findings revealed both patients expectations regarding the conclusive authority of medical professionals and the adoption of an active and knowledgeable position (Peräkylä 2006; Stivers 2006). In order to understand the interaction between health care professionals and patients in institutional settings, it is crucial to focus on the relationship rather than on the isolated actions of the one participant. Each encounter evolves turn by turn as the parties produce accountable patterns of meaning, inference and actions in the particular institutional context (Drew and Heritage 1992). The picture that emerges is complex. Particular institutional contexts undoubtedly have standard encounter patterns supported by both professional practices and physical objects (Drew and Heritage 1992; Scollon 2001), but at the same time these social and physical environments can been seen as providing opportunities for relationships, for interaction between the parties, which can shape the activity at hand (Heritage 1984). 2.1 Older people in geriatric health care contexts Older people as patients in health care contexts poses an additional challenge for all the parties involved. Older patients themselves report negative experiences with health professionals in which they were neglected or treated as unimportant. Their views were not consulted about major decisions regarding their health and lives, which undermined their sense of autonomy. They perceived that they were expected to quietly assent to pain, discomfort and lack of information. These discriminatory practices in health care systems have been argued to perpetuate in older people a

15 sense of powerlessness in the face of illness (Minichiello et al. 2000). Roberts (1994) argued, after exploring older patients (70 +) experiences, that patients stories mostly reflected a passive role, in which they were merely informed about decisions already made by the professionals. Overall, age-discriminatory, so called ageists practices in health care have been thought to stem from a variety of sources, such as professionals personal biases towards old age (Wilkinson and Ferraro 2004) and health care policies excluding older patients from medical care (Simms 2004). These strong claims appear to be supported by empirical findings from situated encounters between older people and professionals during everyday practices in variety of health care settings. Latimer (1997 and 1998) studied the care of people aged 75 and older, admitted to acute medical wards in a hospital. She found constant assessment and categorisation of patients by medical and nursing staff in order to maintain the flow of patients through the ward and to avoid blocked beds. This was accomplished by classifying patients according to status or potential. Patients judged as acutely ill were defined as medical and thus, as having a medical future in the ward, whereas the patients appraised as chronically ill or having psycho-social problems were defined as social, meaning not appropriate to an acute ward and thus in need of discharge. The researcher argued that older people with several chronic conditions were vulnerable in this context, being easily seen as geriatrics, i.e. frail, old and lost the use of their legs and thus inappropriate for acute ward. In the same vein, Becker (1994) found that rehabilitation ward staff ranked stroke survivors into rehabilitation candidates or recipients of geriatric care in a hospital specialised in geriatrics. In this categorisation of older patients, the underlying principle was not only their physical level of disability but also their adherence to values of perseverance, self-reliance, determination to recover and positive attitude. Rehabilitation candidates were perceived to have good recovery potential, including the potential to tolerate aggressive rehabilitation and to meet professionals therapy goals. In contrast, geriatric care patients were seen as in need of babysitting, and in fact blocking beds from the potential rehabilitation candidates. Furthermore, differential treatments were administered to these different categories of patients. The therapists favoured patients considered as rehabilitation candidates by encouraging and providing them with more opportunities, and setting their goals differently from those of patients considered to be geriatric care recipients. In contrast, geriatric care patients were subject to infantilisation and the removal of adult status. During the activities of daily living the staff did not encourage these patients to independence, but rather treated them as if they were children. During the therapy sessions the geriatric care patients were not encouraged nor provided with explanations about the exercises, but implicitly threatened in an effort to get them to adhere to the training. The patients vacillated between resistance and efforts to please and comply with the therapists. In similar manner older people as patients in acute medical wards conformed with the categorisation by subduing and effacing themselves as personal and social beings (Latimer 1999). McCormack (2001), who studied interaction between nurses and older people in hospitals, argued that older patients were not only amenable, but also allowed professionals

16 and relatives to disregard their expressed wishes. He suggested that older patients limited participation in care decisions was due to internal and external factors, both of which limited the discursive rights of the patient. Internal factors referred to older people s expectations of the medical services, including their perception of the role of nurses and nurses attitudes toward older people. This was supported by Roberts (1994), who argued that patients perceptions of the meaning of participation can further hinder their involvement in their care. She illustrated a widespread view of participation amongst older patients by quoting a 74-years-old male patient: I think I have been pretty well involved. They ve told me what they were going to do, and they ve done it. Moreover, external constraints pertaining to organisational policies, the use of language as a form of control, and routinised professional practices were found to limit patients discursive rights (McCormack 2001). McWilliam et al. (1994) argued that professional practices that limited patients active involvement were disempowering, especially to older patients with increased vulnerability. One such professional practice that has been found to be constantly in operation is the implicit assessment of individual patients competence in decision-making (McCormack 2001). Patients ability to make decisions was rarely discussed with patients themselves, but it was implicitly questioned until objectified through an assessment. Even then, other objective assessments, such as family members views, were judged as more reliable than the perceptions of the patients themselves. Thus, the researcher concluded that in the hospital context older people s opportunities to participate in care decisions were limited through lack of negotiation, control of conversation agendas and failure of professionals to respond to patients cues. Older people have been found to have limited opportunities not only in care decisions but also in self-care activities. Baltes and Wahl (1992) compared care practices and behaviours in community and institutional settings. They studied interaction between elderly participants (65 +) and family members and home health nurses in private homes and in interactions between elderly patients and staff in a private nursing home and a home for the chronically ill elderly. They found that in both settings dependent self-care behaviours of older people were reinforced by the caregiver. They argued that dependent behaviours secured immediate and predictable support from the caregivers, and thus provided an instrument of control for older people. While having the deleterious effects of increasing dependency, it also contained gains in achieving predictable social relations, including support and physical contact. They also noted that in the institutional settings independent self-care behavior was mostly ignored. In contrast, in community settings such independent behaviors were sometimes followed by a supportive response from the caregiver, although the most common response was incongruent, there by encouraging dependent behavior. This finding was supported by Moore (2004), who studied patterns of activity within the physical setting of an adult day care centre for people in the early stages of dementia. He found that the core pattern was Constraining Choices, which consisted of decreasing opportunities for personal control, emphasizing routine, and limiting participant independence. This was accomplished by having the staff in control of the primary activity for the day, and by limiting older people s access to physical areas and activities within them,

17 such as recliners, TV, piano and crafts. Older adults were kept in the main activity room for most of the day engaged in the same activities, making constant surveillance easier for the staff. The researcher argued that efforts at maintaining order resulted in infantilising the clients with dementia. Rigid rules and procedures have been found to limit older people s opportunities for active participation and autonomy also in rehabilitation (Proot et al. 2000; Ballinger and Payne 2002; Whyte and Hart 2003). Ballinger and Payne (2002) studied the practices of a day hospital for community-dwelling older adults needing rehabilitation and medical treatments. They found that the service providers, who were nurses and therapists, orientated to physical risk and its minimisation during the day. The daily routines perpetuated this orientation; meals and drinks were served to the tables, personal help was provided without any indications of the need of it, and unnecessary physical activity was discouraged. Thus, the older people were less mobile and used fewer skills than in their own homes. The researchers concluded that the emphasis placed on physical safety during the daily practices discouraged the older people from independent daily activities, reinforced passivity and undermined their confidence. (Ballinger and Payne 2002.) This resembles the findings of Proot et al. (2000), who studied older patients with stroke in the rehabilitation ward of nursing homes. They stated that professional practices, such as staff deciding for patients on such matters as treatment plans, leisure activities or toilet times, constrained the older people s sense of independence and self-determination. Hart et al. (2005) argued that many of the activities during rehabilitation were aimed at adapting older patients to the norms, expectations and values of the institution, which can sometimes undermine the primary purpose of rehabilitation. 2.2 Patient encounters in physiotherapy Interpersonal exchanges between physiotherapist and patient tend to be taken for granted and left unexamined, with the result that relatively few studies have been carried out on communication in physiotherapy settings (Reynolds 2005, 13). Arguably, this is because physiotherapy is firmly grounded in the medical model (Roberts 1994; Ritchie 1999; Reynolds 2005; Nicholls and Cheek 2006). This is manifested by a dualistic biomedical frame of reference: on the one hand a seeking after objective and context-free knowledge, and on the other viewing the client s body as the object of treatment intervention (Roberts 1994). Whereas the practitioners are assumed to act in the patients best interests in order to maximise functioning, the patients expressed needs and experiences are considered secondary to the practice of biomedicine. This shortcoming was already noted by Ramsden (1968), who stated Physical therapists accept the viewpoint that it is necessary to treat the whole patient rather than an isolated disease entity or disability. Nevertheless, we still tend to focus attention on physical aspects of the patient and neglect psychological aspects, possibly because we are well-trained to handle the former but feel inadequate to deal with the latter. Failure to cope with the patients emotional needs may not only mean that we are do-

18 ing half a job, but may also undermine the physical aspects of treatment. (Ramsden 1968, 1130). Furthermore, it has been argued that these premises are revealed by the clinician-centred patterns of interaction that exist between health care professionals and their patients. Gallois et al. (1979) were among the first researchers to document dominant and one-sided interaction patterns among physiotherapists and their patients. They video-recorded physiotherapy treatment sessions and explored the non-verbal behavior during the physiotherapist-patient interactions. They found that physiotherapists spoke, on average, five times as much as patients, while patients were speaking in one-word sentences, such as yes and no. Nonetheless, there has been a long-standing emphasis on the need for a patient-centred approach in physiotherapy (Ramsden 1968 and 1975; Goldin et al. 1974; Hamilton-Duckett and Kidd 1985; Ramsden and Taylor 1988; Sim 1986; Coy 1989). Reynolds (2005) noted that the dominance of the biomedical perspective has been increasingly challenged by alternative ways of conceptualising health, disability and illness, such as the biopsychosocial perspective and the social model of disability. She argued that these re-conceptualisations require changes in the patterns of interaction between health professionals and patients. In the literature on professional standards and expert practice, patient-centred and collaborative physiotherapy practices are nowadays considered axiomatic (Jensen et al. 2000; Mead 2000; Higgs et al. 2001; WCPT 2008). Jensen el al. (2000) explored the dimensions of clinical expertise in physical therapy and identified four elements of clinical expertise that were all penetrated by physiotherapists strong commitment to their patients and families. Their clinical specialty knowledge was patient-centred and they used contextual collaboration in their clinical reasoning. Movement was their central focus and they emphasised patients ability to function in their everyday lives. Their virtues were caring for and commitment to their patients. Further empirical research on communication in physiotherapy encounters, however, suggests that the process of involving patients in physiotherapy in a meaningful way continues to present a challenge. The earliest, published, empirical study on communication in physiotherapy encounters dates back to 1975. In this observational study patient-physiotherapist interaction during treatment sessions was analysed, focusing on non-verbal communication (Perry 1975). The results suggested that all interactions observed included some nonverbal communication; however the patients and the physiotherapists were aware of the nonverbal behavior for only approximately 50% of the time that such behavior was noted. Gallois et al. (1979) utilised more advanced data collection techniques and video-recorded patient-physiotherapist interaction during treatment sessions. They found that non-verbal behaviors differed as a function of the sex of the physiotherapist, the sex of the patient and the point in the interaction. However, common to these non-verbal behaviors was their one-sidedness and the physiotherapists dominance. In contrast, Ek (1990) found that physiotherapy treatment situations were jointly coproduced by the patient and the therapist, when video-recordings over the course of physiotherapy treatments were analysed. On the other hand Thornquist (1990, 1991, 1992 and 1994a) conducted a comparative study of first encounters between patients and physiotherapists in a variety of settings. She video-recorded and interviewed